“Meet me at the sheep” is something you can now say when making plans near Chinatown Park. Artist Kyu Seok Oh’s herd of 10, cast with handmade paper, supported with steel, and coated to resist rain, are perched on red platforms that echo the sculptural gates and are in their element amid the garden's grasses.
One shorn sheep leans over the top of the river stream foundation, seemingly taking a sip. Others look out to the increasingly lively sidewalks around South Station and direct your attention north, to the other temporary public art installations along the Rose Kennedy Greenway.
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“Wandering Sheep” is the first of several annual exhibitions the Greenway Conservancy has planned with artists to portray Chinese zodiac animals (so look for monkeys next year). Oh said it’s a way to pay tribute to the neighborhood’s history and culture while recognizing recent urban development and the younger generations that have moved in.
“I’d like to bring the sheep and make some kind of space that includes both tastes,” he said, “new and traditional.”
The Greenway has organized appetizers and music from Berklee College students on June 16 to formally (but casually) introduce the city to "Wandering Sheep," on display through the fall.
